Epilogue To An Unwritten Story
by TheWanderingMist
Summary: The title says it all. I began writing this about a year ago and modifying it ever since. The entire thing started based around the question "What if the Pokemon theme was in the past tense?". Have fun figuring out what story possibly could have led to this epilogue. I know the story that did lead to it, but as the title says, it's unwritten.
The impossibly bright light faded away. It was all over. Poké Balls now littered the ground everywhere, though already they were starting to fade and release the captured.

"He did it. He really did it," said his mother, tears streaming down her face as she smiled up at the sky.

 _One Year Later_

"Hello, everyone. I am Professor Samuel Oak. We are gathered her today to honor a great man. I knew him for nearly his entire life. He saved our world from a horrible fate. I—I don't have much else to say so I'll leave the talking to his mother." The man stepped aside to allow a brown-haired woman onto the stage. "Delia, if you would do the honors."

"Before we unveil the statue, I'd just like to thank everyone for coming out here today. You all knew my son, Ash Ketchum. A lot of you grew up with him here in Pallet Town. My son was my world. When he left on his first journey, I was the proudest a mother could be. We wouldn't all be here today if he hadn't made the ultimate sacrifice." With that, she took off the tarp covering the stone-carved statue.

It was a glorious monument. It stood about fifteen feet tall, five feet of which were devoted to a cubic pedestal. On top of said pedestal was a human figure, posing with its fingers in a V. A smaller statue stood in front of it. The smaller statue was a Pikachu mimicking the pose of the human statue. A large plaque was affixed to the front of the pedestal.

Inscribed on the plaque were these words:

 _Ash Ketchum_

 _May 22nd, 1987- May 22, 2008_

 _He truly was the very best_

 _Like no one ever was_

 _He caught them all, it was his test._

 _To protect them was his cause._

 _He travelled long, across the land_

 _He searched far and wide._

 _Taught Pokémon to understand_

 _The power left inside_

 _Pokémon (Had to catch 'em all)_

 _It was they and he_

 _He knew it was destiny_

 _Pokémon_

 _They were his best friends._

 _In this world they did defend._

 _Pokémon (Had to catch 'em all)_

 _Their hearts so true._

 _Only courage could pull them through._

 _One stood with him to the very end_

 _Pokémon_

 _(Had to catch 'em all)_

 _(Had to catch 'em all)_

 _Every challenge along the way_

 _With courage, he did face._

 _He battled with them every day._

 _He claimed his rightful place._

 _They went with him_

 _The time was right_

 _There would never be a better team_

 _Arm in arm they won the fight_

 _As had always been their dream_

 _Pokémon (Had to catch 'em all)_

 _It was they and he_

 _He knew it was destiny_

 _Pokémon_

 _They were his best friends._

 _In this world they did defend._

 _Pokémon (Had to catch 'em all)_

 _Their hearts so true._

 _Only courage could pull them through._

 _One stood with him to the very end_

 _Pokémon_

 _(Had to catch 'em all)_

 _(Had to catch 'em all)_

 _(Had to catch 'em all)_

 _(Had to catch 'em all)_

 _(Had to catch 'em all)_

 _Pokémon (Had to catch 'em all)_

 _It was they and he_

 _He knew it was destiny_

 _Pokémon_

 _They were his best friends._

 _In this world they did defend._

 _Pokémon (Had to catch 'em all)_

 _Their hearts so true._

 _Their boundless courage pulled them through._

 _One stood with him to the very end_

 _Pokémon_

 _He caught them all. He truly caught them all._

The red-headed woman reading the plaque to herself managed to hold back the tears she felt welling in her eyes. She did, after all, have happy news for his mother.

"Mrs. Ketchum! Mrs. Ketchum! Over here!" called the redhead without taking her eyes off the statue. The brown-haired woman walked over to the statue.

"Misty dear! I thought you'd come. How are you?"

"I'm good. Great, actually. There's some—" Misty paused.

"Go on, dear. I've dealt with the worst possible news a mother could face over the past year."

"It's not your reaction to bad news that has me worried. It's your potential reaction to good news."

"Whatever do you mean, dear? You don't need to hide anything from me."

"It's not a what, it's a who."

Misty turned to face Mrs. Ketchum.

"The night before…everything happened, he , well, we….," Misty broke off her sentence nervously. _It'll be fine_ , she told herself. _You can do this._ _You can skip over the awkward parts. Just tell her the important bit._

She turned to face Mrs. Ketchum, who could now see that the redheaded girl was clutching a small bundle to her chest.

Misty took a deep breath. "Mrs. Ketchum, meet your grandson. His name is Ash, after his father, and he's three months old. Here, you can hold him."

"My grandson? I have a grandson?" she asked, unable to process what was happening. She took the child into her arms. The child was nearly identical to his father. The only differences were a lack of lightning-shaped marks beneath his sea-green instead of brown eyes. "I love him. Why didn't you tell me about him sooner?"

"I was planning to, his middle name is Brock, by the way, but three months ago, nearly immediately after he was born, I received two very strange calls. One was from May. Apparently, two infants had materialized out of thin air right in front of her. A boy and a girl. Twins, in fact. Dawn called as well with the almost the same story, the only difference being that she received a single, instantly materializing female child. The three of us realized this was highly unlikely, so we had some DNA testing done. Ash has been confirmed to somehow be the father of all of them and May and Dawn are somehow the mothers of the respective children despite those things being physical impossibilities. And that's not even the weirdest part. Dawn's child at least looks like her with brown eyes and lightning marks. When it comes to May, however, the children resemble neither of the parents. In fact, they're identical to the two we found crashed into the tree that day so long ago. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's the truth. I've seen them with my own eyes."

"Misty! Over here!" Voices were calling her from atop a small hill.

"May! Dawn! You made it after all."

"We weren't going to miss this for the world. We just got a little held up along the way," said Dawn.

"Team Rocket?" asked Misty.

"Mm-hmm," replied May. "They didn't give us any trouble though. They seemed a little depressed when we passed them. We managed to cheer them up a little and then we went our separate ways."

 _Approximately one hour ago:_

A woman with dark red hair walked alongside a Meowth. The two were walking away from Pallet Town, headed toward Viridian City.

"You've been awfully quiet, Jess," said the Meowth.

"No I haven't," replied the woman. "It's just‑" The woman paused.

"Just what, Jess? Oh, I got it. Even though you knew James wouldn't get a statue, seeing the twerp get one got to you."

"Yes, I suppose it did. James was as much of a hero as that twerp, but no one will remember what he did to save the world."

"Yeah, that's true. Course, seein' how he was seen as a criminal, it's to be expected, but it still hurts more to know for certain. We'll always remember though, won't we? Let's just get back to Team Rocket Headquarters as soon as we can."

"Meowth, I'm not going back to headquarters."

"I know, Jess. I saw you dump the uniform back in Viridian. What are you gonna do, Jessie?"

"I don't know. It's too late to go on the straight and narrow. James wouldn't want us to do that anyway and besides it's not my style to walk on the right side of the law. Maybe I'll start my own gang and name it in honor of James. But without that Pikachu to steal, I don't know what we'll do."

"Wherever you end up Jess, I'll be right there for ya."

"Thank you, Meowth." The woman stopped walking and pulled Meowth behind a nearby shrub.

"What's the big idea?"

"Shhh! Look, it's twerpettes two and three."

"So it is. They must've come for the twerp's statue. What are they carrying? Are those… _babies?_ "

"It would appear so. Let's just acknowledge them and move on."

"Fine by me, Jessie."

The pair stepped out from behind the shrub. Heads down, they began walking towards the two girls coming in the opposite direction.

"Hey, is that Team Rocket?" asked the blue-haired girl of her traveling companion.

"Yeah, it's us," replied Meowth. "We ain't gonna bother you guys today. We've got too many memories on our minds. Jessie won't admit it, but James not getting any recognition for saving the world hurts her more than she's letting on. I mean, the twerp and his Pikachu each got their own statue for Pete's sake. You'd think James had at least earned a plaque or something."

"We know he was just as much a hero as Ash. We will always remember his sacrifice," said the brown-haired girl.

"Words are empty, little twerpette, especially coming from our greatest enemies. Will you remember in five years? In ten? Twenty?" asked Jessie.

"Always. I named my son partially in his honor. This is James S. Ketchum," said May, holding out the child.

"What's the "S" stand for?" asked the duo simultaneously.

"Simon," said May.

"Let me guess. The girl is named after the other one who we found in the tree?"

"Yes. I'd like you to meet Jessica N. Ketchum."

Jessie was taken aback. "Me? You named her after me?"

"You were no less a hero than any of us," said Dawn.

"None of us saved the world any less than the others," added May.

"Come on, Jess. Let's get movin'," said Meowth.

"All right," replied Jessie. "I suppose I owe you a show of gratitude." Jessie bowed her head. "So, thank you, twerpettes, for lifting my spirits."

Meowth and Jessie walked farther into the woods. They were nearly out of sight when Dawn called after them.

"Hey, you two!" yelled Dawn.

Jessie and Meowth turned around.

"Come and see us once in a while. Let's let bygones be bygones. Keep yourselves out of trouble! And don't blast off again!"

With that, Jessie and Meowth disappeared into the forest, leaving May and Dawn alone in the woods.

"So, you still gonna be a Coordinator, Dawn?" asked May.

"Yeah. My mom and I decided that we'll raise this girl as my little sister even though she's my daughter biologically. My mom's going to need help around the house with a baby to take care of, so I'll be staying off the Contest circuit for a few years. But I won't stop practicing and perfecting my Contest moves."

"Good to hear. My family has pretty much decided to do the same with these two. Max has been gone five years now and he wasn't exactly a little kid when everything happened, so I'll also be staying out of Contests for a few years to get all of their things sorted out."

 _Now_ :

"That was nice of you two. Now come down here so we can have a normal conversation!" shouted Misty.

May and Dawn walked down the hill to greet Misty and Ms. Ketchum properly. They talked for a good long while about everything that had happened over the past five years, from the crash that had set everything off to the grand culmination of all the events. They went to the statue together and shed a single tear each. Then, they talked of the children and how they had decided to handle things. A grand celebration had begun around the small group and they moved to sit at a nearby picnic table, taking a few glasses of water with them. At the table they discussed how each of the fallen had been honored. Ash and Pikachu with statues in Pallet Town and Brock with a statue in Pewter City as well as having a Pokemon Breeding School named after him. James would live on in the name of May's son and in the hearts of those who knew the truth of what happened.

"Hey Misty! We've told you how we plan to deal with our sudden children, so what are you gonna do with your son?" asked Dawn.

"Oh right. I never told you two that I didn't just suddenly have a child appear in front of me, that I actually gave birth to him. And now that I'm a member of the Elite Four, I'll raise him to take over the Cerulean Gym one day. "

"Wait, back up. Gave birth to him? But that would mean that you and Ash‑" May blushed.

"Yeah, it was the night before everything went completely crazy, right before we took the jump. We were still talking about the plan around the fire long after everyone else had gone to sleep and things just sort of spiraled from there. Anyway, let's not talk about that. The important thing is that we're all here together after the fact and we're here to remember those who gave their lives for us. So, let's have a toast. Ms. Ketchum, may I have the honor?"

"Go right ahead, dear."

"A toast to those who paid the final price, the only price that matters in this world."

The quartet stood up, cupping their glasses in their hands.

"To James!" said Misty.

"To James!" replied the others in unison, clinking their glasses of water together.

"To Brock!"

"To Brock!" Another reply, another round of clinks.

"To Ash!" shouted Misty.

"To Ash!" A third and final shout rose amid the ringing of glasses.

And so, with the world mostly back to normal and night falling on the bustling festivities, Misty, May, and Dawn all said their goodbyes and headed to their respective homes of Cerulean City, Petalburg City, and Littleroot Town with their children in tow, ready for the bright future ahead of them.


End file.
